Saturday Stuff

I’ve got a couple of admittedly boring “hot takes” related to race that I feel like sharing; I crave your indulgence on this for a couple of minutes.

The first is that, even though I honestly tried to avoid all of the Harry/Meghan/Oprah stuff, I did manage to figure out what the controversy is all about (namely, that one or more people in the British royal family made a remark about what the skin color would be of the baby Meghan Markle was expecting). Well, here’s the way I look at this. Yeah, a remark like that is stupid and idiotic, but you keep that stuff under your roof and don’t go blabbing to the media about it, especially to Oprah Winfrey. And from what I hear, the “skin color” stuff came from Kate Middleton and Prince Philip. I honestly don’t believe that came from Kate Middleton because I think she’s smart and savvy enough to know not to say that; she may also have the kind of character as a person to know a remark like that is awful. Do I believe it coming from Prince Philip? Yeah, I do. But when I saw some brief highlights of the Oprah Winfrey interview, I thought the body language of the three of them communicated a lot. Namely, I think there’s a hell of a lot of baggage Harry is carrying around (probably from what happened with his mom and the media exploitation, which makes all of this a bit ironic), and I hope he gets help with that. And Meghan Markle sat there acting like she owned the joint, you might say. She, with Winfrey’s willing help of course, helped to create and exploit a situation to make her look like the victim, which I guess she is to some degree (to the point where, if you criticize her in any way, there will be a thousand social media posts appearing right away with the title of “I support Meghan Markle because I had the same situation, blah blah blah”...or, someone might say, “You’re as crazy as Piers Morgan,” which I definitely don’t believe is true). Basically, I think Meghan Markle is playing a game of 10-dimensional chess when it comes to owning the media narrative on this, and the Royal Family are still playing checkers by comparison.

The second has to do with remarks from that disgusting U.S. Senatorial mistake Ron Johnson of Wisconsin; he recently said on a Zoom meeting call that he felt safe during the 1/6 insurrection because the overwhelming majority of the protestors were white weren't Antifa and supposedly "love this country" (here - just a bit of "code language" here). Even though the bar is already incredibly low here since we’re talking about RoJo, I think he should apologize for that not just to the entire U.S. Congress as well as not just the constituents he allegedly represents in Wisconsin, but the entire country.

Now to the main stuff...Thom Hartmann tells us about the “Texas Taliban” trying to regulate women’s health (and by the way, women who miscarry may be prosecuted El Salvador as noted here...Nail. Hammer. Head on Thom’s remarks at the end)...



...and once again, what is the “party of Lincoln” focused on aside from controlling women’s health care? Why, making it harder to vote of course...



...oh, and also, those U.S. House lunatics of that party are losing what’s left of their minds over common sense gun legislation (David Pakman explains)...



...but they NEVER lose sight of fealty to their “dear leader” in exile, as Rachel Maddow explains...



...and I now give you the latest installment of “This Day In Doomsy History,” and again, we’re only going back a year to 3/13/20 (Kyle Kulinski tells us what Trish Regan and the late but not lamented Flush Limbore said about COVID-19, which started blowing up as a public health calamity despite that...I don’t know if Trish Regan was the nuttiest of the lot, and that’s saying something for that network of crazies, but I DO know that she disappeared from the air soon after she uttered these words...and it wouldn’t be a Kyle video without de facto “both sidesism” between the “R” and “D” parties of course)...



...and speaking of anniversaries, yesterday marked the 18th of the (formerly) Dixie Chicks and Natalie Maines saying that they were ashamed that Dubya was from Texas (re, 43’s Not So Excellent Adventure in Iraq - here), and for that, they were roundly criticized, including by the likes of Toby Keith, who, as far as I know, has never apologized for it...I know this isn’t an original observation, but anyone who thinks “Trumpism” is anything but the rebranded version of the latest stoo-pid Republicanism hasn’t learned history...really, ever since Nixon (but accelerated under The Sainted Ronnie R), then to Dubya, the Teahadists and Combover Caligula, it’s all been the same utterly debased downward trajectory in our politics from about 30-40 percent of this country to varying degrees...and yeah, this tune is probably a bit of a response to the Thom Hartmann video also (not to Thom, I wish to emphasize).

Friday Stuff

Brian Tyler Cohen brings us this clip of Katie Porter letting an energy industry lobbyist have it for his claim that oil and gas companies don’t get preferential tax treatment, with Porter and U.S. House Dems trying to get these thieves to pay up at long last...and as far as I’m concerned, the existence of Sleepy Ben Carson in ANY KIND of public sector job is the sort of “FU” insult typical of our prior ruling regime of frauds and criminals...



...and here’s a brief excerpt from President Biden’s speech last night on the one-year anniversary of COVID becoming a global pandemic (and I have no desire whatsoever to link to the right-wing hyenas yapping about this, unless it’s from TYT, The Damage Report, The Majority Report, or a like-minded platform...typical stupid garbage from these cretins to try and score cheap political points as usual)...



...and in response, Joy Reid tells us about the anti-mask bullies, who apparently are planning something coming up in Daytona, FL – likely another “super spreader” event...Dr. Anthony Fauci spoke at length on Rachel Maddow last night and warned about this...



...and speaking of which, I thought this was an illuminating clip from Dr. Fauci about what we could be looking at with COVID-19 in future, particularly with the global variants out there (worrisome, but we’re on a much better track now than this time a year ago)...



...and when it comes to Repugs taking credit for COVID relief that they voted against, John and Bridget Todd give us the latest (and yeah, that includes Roger Wicker for sure, and Tom “Militarize Our Cities” Cotton decried payouts to prisoners in the Biden bill that were ALSO in the two Trump relief bills he voted for...figures)...



...and when everything starts opening up again for real, someday, I’d like to return to “Beantown,” but for now, I’ll have to settle for this video.

Wednesday Stuff

I thought David Pakman did a really good job here of dissecting the rantings of this Newsmax clown about “liberal cancel culture,” which of course is yet another diversion from the COVID relief bill that is FINALLY nearing completion, as well as HR1 to secure voting rights (getting worked on, I hasten to emphasize...will likely have a harder path in the "lege" than the COVID bill with the filibuster in place); once again, the COVID bill isn’t perfect, but kudos to the Dems for getting this done with ZERO REPUBLICAN HELP (and as we get closer to elections, I think we should get ready for a whole lot of this)...



...which is part and parcel of this, as Farron Cousins explains...



...so what ARE Republicans doing instead, aside from the whole “cancel culture” schtick? Well, Madison Cawthorn made a video of beating up a tree, presumably to “own the libs,” as John and Dr. Aqualus Gordon tell us (yeah, I think "performance art" covers a lot of this)...



...and while what Cawthorn did was stoo-pid, at least it wasn’t as offensively racist as what his same-party playmate Glenn Grothman said here (and kudos to Dem Rep Stacey Plaskett for giving Grothman the treatment he deserves...and because we're talking about The Comcast Network in this clip, Grothman wasn't called out for being the ignorant fathead that he is)...



...and returning to HR1, Robert Reich tells us that voting rights in this country are facing the biggest threat from Republican state legislatures since Jim Crow (no wonder they’re trying so hard to distract us...and Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema quite rightly get called out here also; I'd love to see Biden take a page out of LBJ's book too, but we're talking about two completely different eras and two completely different personalities)...



...and as noted here, today marks the 145th anniversary of what was basically the first phone call, with A.G. Bell allegedly saying “Watson, I want you” or whatever it was – good luck trying to zero in on a tune with all of the songs about telephones, but I settled on this one.

Tuesday Stuff

Ari Melber speaks with lawyer Neal Katyal about the ridiculous new voter discrimination laws that Georgia is trying to pass (with a similar push for equally stupid measures going on around the country, including this...more here – an atypically odd question by Melber about the jury vs. following the evidence...usually he’s “on the beam” pretty much, but that left me a little baffled)...



Update 1: And as long as we're discussing Bri-Fi, I think this is a good question also (and why the hell is the Bucks Republican Party using a J&J "spoof" account for this? Oh, I get it - to try and trick people on a wait list for the COVID shot into picking up the phone under false pretenses...riiiight...and Pat Poprik apologized because she got caught).

Update 2: These people are always horrible and useless, and they're horrible and useless again here.

...and in a related story as they say, while I usually don’t pay a lot of attention to the NBA, I have to give LeBron James a lot of credit for this (I just know about this ad because Rachel Maddow discussed it last night)...



...and Chris Hayes talks to Paul Krugman about the COVID relief bill (the only caveat I would add is that it remains to be seen how much the relief bill will help folks living paycheck to paycheck BEFORE the pandemic hit, but yes, there’s a hell of a lot that’s positive that will help a lot of folks...and as long as we're discussing our current plague, I think this is appropriate)...



...and since every action must have a reaction I guess, that means that it’s up to Fix and Fiends to attack the American Rescue Plan – and by the way, Kilmeade’s claim about only 9 percent going to pandemic relief is a typical lie (more info is here), and I wouldn’t trust Dan Crenshaw on ANYTHING based on this...



...and Pap and Farron Cousins talk about the fracking ban in the Delaware River (yep, it is a big deal also all right, and for sure, this needs to happen nationwide, though it’s probably trying to chase the metaphorical horse after it’s already out of the barn, so to speak, but better late than never...Pap needs to get his rivers straight...big dif between the Delaware and the Susquehanna)...



...and happy belated 75th birthday to Matthew Fisher of Procal Harum.

Monday Stuff (updates)

(FWIW, I care ABSOLUTELY NOTHING about the Oprah/Harry/Meghan Markle interview!)

David Doel tells us here about the wingnut preoccupation with 6 Dr. Seuss books that, allegedly, have bene “cancelled,” when In reality the estate just made the profit-driven decision to suspend publication, which they’re allowed to do; it tells you just how powerful the conservative noise machine truly is, unfortunately, that we’re paying attention to this at all as opposed to rejecting all of this for the rank stupidity that it is (and as the pic indicates, Theodor Seuss Geisel lampooned the “America First” movement back in the day; A.F. wasn’t totally conservative, but it was close)...



Update: Whatever comes after us may spend eons laughing over our stupidity (here).

Update 3/9/21: I was actually wondering if the Dems were going to respond to this idiocy...kudos to Tim Ryan for this...

If you watch anything today... pic.twitter.com/65vwH1XtLn

— Brian Tyler Cohen (@briantylercohen) March 9, 2021

...and speaking of rank stupidity, I give you this from Joy Reid, though that isn’t meant as a dig at her (there was a time when Michael Steele could have spoken out when he was part of the apparatus that he now criticizes, but I guess better late than never, and I have only a slightly better opinion of Charlie Sykes...between this, the Seuss stuff, the 1/6 insurrection and every Republican No vote on COVID relief...if Dems can’t make up halfway decent attack campaign ads next year, they might as well give up...more here)...



...and boy, do I respect the hell out of Ali Velshi for this; articulates how I also feel pretty damn well (in years prior to now, I spent a lot of time refuting right-wing B.S. – I don’t have the time to do that now, and I also don’t have the desire, to be honest)...



...and speaking of untruths, in this “Now This” video, Dem U.S. House Rep Julian Castro refutes the typically disgusting lie from Texas Gov. Greg Abbott blaming undocumented immigrants for the increase in COVID-19 cases in “the land of the yellow rose” – nah, OF COURSE it doesn’t have anything to do with Abbott’s ridiculous decision to get rid of that state’s mask mandate...

...and John I. and Bridget Todd tell us more on the allegations surrounding Repug U.S. House Rep Madison Cawthorn (yep, pure as the driven slush all right)...



...and I was probably a little early with the Meredith Brooks number for International Women’s Day, so let me include this also.

Saturday Stuff

Well, it FINALLY passed (here – with absolutely ZERO Republican support in Congress)...



...but not including the $15-an-hour federal minimum wage, as noted in the pic (explained by Cenk, John and Koa Beck...and again, it should be noted that Angus King is officially an independent)...



...and the frustration of Chris Hayes here with Joe Manchin and Jeanne Shaheen trying to limit the COVID payments is pretty damn obvious and apropos (and I don’t know how Biden DOESN’T have his thumb on the metaphorical scale here – yep, stuff like this may make the Dem Senate majority go “poof,” and the House is hanging by a thread too...but again, between all the cruel, pointless obstruction over COVID relief and what happened on 1/6, Congressional Dems have plenty of ammunition to use against the "party of Lincoln")...



...and, in addition to Stacey Abrams in GA for helping to ensure that the Dems had the Senate majority to get this done, I think Chris Murphy deserves a lot of credit for this presentation earlier in the week...



...and Thom Hartmann gives us some important context on what’s going on with the COVID economy, as well as Amazon raising its minimum wage to $15 an hour...



...and I know I linked to this earlier, but I’m including the video again, and actually, get ready to see a lot of this...as far as I’m concerned, politically, Kyrsten Sinema is a “dead Dem walking” for this, which she completely deserves; I’ll do as much as I can to promote her inevitable primary challenger (I’m not sure I’ve ever seen such clueless political behavior from a Dem in my life)...



...and RIP Tony Hendra of National Lampoon and "This Is Spinal Tap"...



...and happy upcoming International Women's Day.

Friday Stuff

Willie Geist of “Morning Joe” brings us a segment with Dr. Vin Gupta speaking with a lady who had to move closer to a hospital for treatment of her ongoing COVID symptoms; the death toll from this plague is horrific enough, but another aspect to this story that I think is completely under-reported is how much care those afflicted will need, probably for the rest of their lives (love to be wrong on that)...



...and with the prior clip in mind, I now give you the latest installment of “This Day In Doomsy History” (more or less) from 3/6/20 (just going around the block this time, as it were) with Dr. Irvin Redlener of Columbia University speaking about the level of incompetence coming from the Trump regime on the Covid-19 outbreak (I would say that Redlener was prescient with his 12-18 month forecast...just a note that videos from MSNBC’s web site auto play into each other...probably should have pointed that out awhile ago I know)...



...and this “Now This” clip tells us about the NAACP using a precedent related to the Ku Klux Klan to sue Generalissimo Trump over the 1/6 insurrection (and in a related story, I give you this)...



...and Sam and Emma of “The Majority Report” tell us about the Idaho state rep (some fool name Charlie Shepherd – and do I really need to identify the political party?) who spoke out against a $6 mil US gov’t grant to expand child care, presumably because mothers don't need the help (???)...we do so love our kids, don’t we...



...and David Doel tells us about the 7 Dem U.S. Senators (and one independent, Angus King of Maine) who voted down the $15 federal minimum wage proposal; I think some of them are flat-out opposed, like Carper and Coons (the big banks in DE tell them to jump, and they ask how high), but I also think some were looking for cover over this “ruling from the parliamentarian” BS...one of them, Maggie Hassan, is up in 2022 and is ALREADY asking me for $$$...she won’t get one dime from me now because of this...whether they’re opposed on the merits or over the parliamentarian thing doesn’t matter to me because the net effect is the same...and yeah, we know what a traitorous tool Josh Hawley is, but it needs to be pointed out again...and great TYT reporting on Manchin’s business interests...and as far as Sinema is concerned, this speaks for itself (I want to know who’s going to primary her so I can make a donation); if Dems don’t deliver on this, they can kiss their newly-won Senate majority goodbye (though I also think that David Sirota’s idea to “burn down the whole thing” is nuts too; I know that thinking is what “centrist” Dems count on, which makes them even more vile to me as far as I’m concerned...probably a lot more to say about this for another time)...



...and I’m looking for a way to ease into the weekend, and I think this tune will definitely help with that (hopefully for you too).

Thursday Stuff

Rachel Maddow tells us of the referral to the DOJ for “Puffy” Chao that basically was canned by the “justice” department of the Gropenfuhrer; the segment also pointed out that, basically, Chao wanted U.S. Embassy personnel in China to host Chao’s family for work she was apparently trying to funnel to them, which of course is INCREDIBLY illegal (whenever you elect ANY Republican to high office...and why the hell would anybody even CONSIDER that after all this?...you’re going to end up with bottom-feeding characters like Mrs. McConnell...and she just LOVES to be called that, apparently...more here)...



...and speaking of hangers-on from 45's regime, this tells us more about Generalissimo Trump’s first doctor Ronny Jackson and stuff like being abusive to staff, drinking on the job, handing out pain meds all over the place, and more, all according to a Pentagon IG report (yep, looks like it all fits the proverbial profile)...



...and as long as we’re dwelling on Trumpian garbage, I think it’s important to present this from Brian Tyler Cohen, with President Biden pointing out how important it is to maintain COVID-related precautions (and as far as Biden’s “neanderthal” remark goes – which I think is completely apt – I give you this...maybe after those clowns Reeves and Abbott get their "fainting couches," they need to figure out how to help the residents of their respective states, including Reeves with cleaning up the water system for folks in the city of Jackson, as noted here)...



...but with all of the COVID-related stuff raging, legislation for relief trying to pass Congress as well as cleaning up our elections, along with wholesale calamities related to energy and the environment in not just Texas but Mississippi also as stated...with all of that going on, what is Fix Noise preoccupied with the most? Why, Dr. Seuss of course, as John and Jayar tell us here (and I guess you’d better not tell the Foxies about this)...



...and I think the prior clip is an appropriate lead-in to the latest installment of “This Day In Doomsy History” from 3/4/11, in which former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton claimed that the U.S. is pretty much losing the information war on the world stage...if that was true 10 years ago, God only knows the state of things now (and to put a bit of an exclamation point on the prior video and this one, I give you this and this)...



...and as noted here, 55 years ago today, John Lennon made what was thought to be an obscure reference to a British journalist that The Beatles were “bigger than Jesus” and that would be the end of it...well, not exactly; once that remark made it to our shores, people lost their minds (I thought in “All You Need Is Cash” with The Rutles, the “Fab Four” sendup of course, they did a parody of that that was hilarious...I guess this tune fits for the occasion).

Wednesday Stuff

Chris Hayes spoke with Dem U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse about the testimony of FBI Director Chris Wray, with Whitehouse saying that Wray was...how shall we say this...less than forthright in his dealings with Whitehouse and other U.S. Senate Dems (here)...



...and sticking with the Wray testimony, I’m sure we can “appreciate the concern” of those traitors Mike Lee and, especially, Josh Hawley also (here)...



..and while we're looking at “the world’s greatest deliberative body” (please), Ana and Francesca of TYT tell us about Joe Manchin flipping out when he was asked about the filibuster – at this point, I just want Manchin to lose when he runs for re-election, and I just about don’t care any more if that means it becomes an R seat...I know that’s the wrong attitude, but I’m already beyond fed up with Manchin and Sinema...Manchin is at least a hard-nosed pol who knows how to play the game, though the way he does so is infuriating, but Sinema is just a clueless neophyte...



Update 3/5/21: When Sinema's primary challenger is announced, I'd like to know as soon as possible so I can make a contribution (here - if Schumer were any kind of a leader of the Dem caucus, he would zero out her entire budget for this).

...and John of “The Damage Report” tells us that Merck and J&J are teaming up on the COVID vaccine; yeah, obviously, Trump is blameworthy for basically not doing squat on this for four years, and it kind of makes me wonder a bit too about what kind of behind-the-scenes deal was struck here with Biden, though I emphasize that that's just supposition on my part...maybe Viviana Vigil is being a bit alarmist, but I have a feeling she’s right too...



...and yeah, it looks like, fresh off that state’s energy-related calamity, it looks like Texas Gov. Greg Abbott just wants to kill more of the citizens of "the land of the yellow rose," as Farron Cousins tells us...



...and I was glad to see Philly music titans Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff get the NYT profile they richly deserved here - here is one of my favorite covers of one of Philly International's legendary tunes (from another Philly area notable & his former band).

Tuesday Stuff

Suffice it to say that the jury is still out, as it were, on President Biden (the fact that he’s not Our Treasonous Orange Pestilence earns him points for that alone), but I have to say that I can NEVER recall a president speaking out in favor of unions, which is pretty damn impressive; the last time I recall a chief executive saying anything about that was when The Sainted Ronnie R declared war on PATCO (Chris Hayes speaks with organizer Randy Hadley and Amazon employee Jennifer Bates - more here)...



...and this clip is a little behind the news cycle I know, but Cenk and Ana of TYT tell us about the Pentagon pulling the plug on the F-35, which, by the way, cost as much as student loan forgiveness (hmmm)...



...and Thom Hartmann brings us a truly scary history lesson about Hitler, the South pre-Civil War and the “big lie” about the 2020 election promoted at CPAC (and yes, there is a parallel to all of this stuff as far as I’m concerned, and I think, of the MANY under-reported or NOT reported aspects of the life of Generalissimo Trump, his legitimate infatuation with a certain Austrian postcard painter who went on to found The Third Reich is right up there with the catalog of insidious garbage accompanying out 45th *president)...



...and I’d like to offer this in solidarity with the Alabama Amazon workers (more apt for Labor Day I guess).

Monday Stuff

Cenk and Ana of TYT tell us about a recent medical study examining what being a conservative does to your brain and the tendency to support authoritarians...make no mistake, though; I don’t want to see ONE DIME of my taxpayer money spent on helping these life forms – they made that choice...let them live with it (besides, would they show a shred of decency and compassion for lefties? I think Farron Cousins also had a recent related commentary) - and yeah, it looks like the network that gives them their marching orders in this country was at it again as noted here...



...and speaking of authoritarians, Kyle K. tells us that Liz Cheney compared Americans opposing what appears to be our “permanent war” footing any more to Nazi appeasers (she really should be careful when criticizing the "America First" movement because, though there is merit in that position, group membership cut across ideological boundaries, and she's giving de facto support to the Democratic administration of FDR)...in a way, this is good, because I was actually starting to feel a little sympathetic towards her since she supported impeaching Our Treasonous Tiny Handed Russian Operative of a former *president, but no more (NSFW) – and by the way, I would call that “pot, meet kettle” based on this...



...and it looks like the cops have so much dough that they can deploy a “robot dog,” or at least the NYPD can, as David Doel tells us...yes, this definitely is more ammunition for “defund the police,” and again, that’s a terrible slogan, but worse than that, doing ANYTHING against the police is ABSOLUTELY TOXIC for Dem candidates running in the suburbs...we can scream about that all day long, but believe me when I tell you that elderly conservative voters ARE NOT GOING TO BE MOVED...



...and John I. talks with Dr. Rashad Richey about lawyers working to reunite separated immigrant kids with their families; good work so far, but much more needs to be done of course (I was surprised to hear that anecdote about The Sainted Ronnie R...more here)...



...and this “Now This” clip features Yale law professor William Eskridge speaking out against his former students Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley, both of whom voted against Merrick Garland by the way – actually, I think Hawley has voted no to ALL of Biden’s nominees (here)...



...and let’s “set the wayback, Sherman” (a dated boomer reference I know) to just about 50 years ago for this number – I know I included a tune from Chicago at Carnegie Hall a couple of weeks ago...here’s another one.

Sunday Stuff

(And doesn't this figure? Also, for what it's worth, I think the Andrew Cuomo stuff should be independently investigated.)

Aida R., Cenk and Jayar tell us about the Repugs and their “golden calf” at CPAC (imagine what would happen, again, if Dems pulled something like this? They’d be pilloried in the media forever, and it would be totally deserved)...



...and Sam and Emma of TMR tell us about the girl at CPAC telling everyone to mask up and getting booed of course – fine...breathe on each other and drop dead; I honestly don’t care what happens to you idiots any more as long as it doesn’t affect me or anybody I know...



...but wait a minute – didn’t Bill Hemmer of Fix Noise say that the libs want to “cancel Bible characters” or something? Well, what does it tell you that, based on the first clip, the wingnuts apparently want to “cancel” the first of the Ten Commandments (David Pakman explains - also a good explanation of how "news" and "opinion" overlap all over the place on that channel)...



...fortunately, The Lincoln Project has an answer for all of this...Qdroxychloroquine...



...and I don’t feature Beau of the Fifth Column nearly as much as I should, but he reminds us here that the COVID relief bill just passed the U.S. House with 0 Republican votes – not surprising I know, but still utterly appalling...



...and John and Brett Erlich tell us about the U.S. Senate BS with the parliamentarian not allowing legislation about a $15 federal minimum wage into the COVID relief bill, though it’s true that apparently you can’t overrule this person if you don’t have 50 votes - to complain, click here and here...I honestly don’t recall Repugs caring a whit about this stuff when they called the shots...



...and even though he’s been president for barely a few weeks, it looks like Joe Biden is honoring another presidential tradition by bombing a Middle Eastern country, though, unlike our Former Orange Pestilence, I’m willing to trust 46’s judgment a little more here, though I know that doesn’t automatically absolve him (and I don’t like giving Mohammed Bone Saw a pass on Jamal Khashoggi either, but again, that didn’t happen on his watch)...Chris Hayes, though, is fundamentally right in saying that we need to end the AUMF and get the hell out of these places...



...and it looks like some California hipsters got together and made not too bad of a newer tune - hope you like it also.

Friday Stuff

Kudos to Dem U.S. House Rep Gerry Connolly for standing up to Repug House looney tunes Gym Jordan and “Democrat Party” Andy Biggs for STILL claiming that there was mail-related fraud from the Dems in last year’s elections (no reason to treat the “party of Lincoln” seriously in any way here)...



...and in a related clip, damn, I wish Stephen Lynch was MY congressman – and yeah, Biggs and Jordan’s same-party pal Jody Hice was on this list too...Brian Tyler Cohen explains how the post office did a great job of delivering electoral ballots IN SPITE OF Postmaster Louis DeJoy, not BECAUSE of him...and it looks like Biden can nominate 3 more commissioners who hopefully will can DeJoy at last (here)...



...and Rachel Maddow reminds us of the bad faith on display by others in the Trump Party in the matter of hearings for Biden’s cabinet nominees (yeah, how dare Interior’s Deb Haaland express concerns about drilling for oil on public lands...horrors!)...



...and it tells you how far the wingnuts have gone off the deep end when Liz Cheney is actually the voice of reason, pointing out that the Repugs attract white supremacists – uh, yep, but as Cousins says, they would basically have to disavow the last 50 or so years of their party’s history to clean up that slate, as it were, including a lot authored by Liz’s dad...



...and as long as we’re on the topic of nonsense by the “GOP,” David Pakman tells us of the recent comments by South Dakota U.S. Senator John Thune about how he was just so happy to earn $7 an hour about 40 or so years ago, and gosh darn it, why can’t those good-for-nothing complainers just suck it up and pull themselves up by their bootstraps or whatever and do the same thing (removing my tongue from my cheek)...



...and Ana and John of TYT tell us that a federal judge has allowed CA to enforce its own Net Neutrality law, which hopefully will be the beginning of other states being able to do the same thing...



...and yeah, I suppose Jimmy Dore is the absolute lowest of the low-hanging fruit, but I also guess that attention must be paid at times (bits and pieces of what he says is correct I know, but if he thinks he’s getting anything but played by the Swanson TV Dinner Heir, he’s the most naïve life form on the planet...as soon as that weaselly grin appeared on Carlson’s mug, I would have called him out and/or thrown off my mic and said, “I’m outta here”...actually, I probably would know not to even be there in the first place...I think Sam is way too kind to Dore here, but I guess that’s his call)...



...and between the Mars rover and this story, NASA has had a pretty good run lately (thanks to them for the pics in this video); nice to highlight some news that’s actually positive (aside from the CA Net Neutrality story also) – made me recall this tune.

Wednesday Stuff

(Apologies to this guy for that...).

I know there have been some issues with The Lincoln Project and the people running it lately, and if you choose to contribute to them, you’re on your own (not saying anything one way or the other on that), but I’m including this video because they’re doing good work yet again...



...and John I. and Aida Rodriguez of The Damage Report tells us about yesterday’s U.S. Senate hearings on the 1/6 insurrection (tied more to the above pic I know, and yes, insurrection really is the correct word for it, despite what Dinesh D'Felon sez here)...the sarcasm from John at the beginning about witnesses is completely called for IMHO...



...and with wingnut media idiocy in mind, I now give you the latest installment of “This Day In Doomsy History” (more or less) from 2/25/13, in which the late but not lamented Flush Limbore said he was, for the first time, “ashamed of this country” (here).

Was it because of the Iraq War? Nope.

Was it because of Hurricane Katrina? Try again.

Was it because of the 2008 “Great Recession.” Still no.

It was because the administration of Former President Obama was warning about cuts from the infamous “sequester” (which, to me, is one of those legitimate news topics that our corporate media avoids like the plague).

In response – yeah, I’ll just leave it at this (David Pakman tells us more)...



...and Chris Hayes takes on the “party of Lincoln” and their various hangers-on (like Uday Trump Jr.) and other ammo-sexuals over their gun fetish, with a little historical perspective...



...and speaking of guns, I should warn you that this short clip is genuinely disturbing, but it’s the sort of thing that makes me absolutely want to scream; I cannot imagine the mental illness of an individual who thinks that preying on a giraffe like this is anything but utterly barbaric...God almighty, is this woman sick (and I’m not sure what it says about her husband that he went along with this, but it certainly doesn’t say anything good)...



...and RIP Lawrence Ferlinghetti, reading “The world is a beautiful place” (which still can definitely be true despite it all)...



...and I guess I need a bit of levity, so here is this Newsmax host complaining that college age women don’t want to date conservatives, presumably men (break out the world’s tiniest violin – Brett Erlich and Ana K. give this “story” the treatment it deserves)...



...and happy belated 75th birthday to Rusty Young of Poco.

Tuesday Stuff

This Now This video tells us about a joke on SNL’s “Weekend Update” that apparently got some pro-Israel sympathizers upset in the matter of COVID vaccinations, or the lack thereof, distributed to Palestinians; boo-freaking-hoo (and of course Russia and China are jumping into the breach, as it were, while the Israelis – and by extension, us – dither in response)...



...and in this “Damage Report” clip, John and Francesca tell us about @CancunCruz trying to win back brownie points among the people he allegedly represents by loading a case of water into a passenger vehicle...meanwhile, that baaad Marxist Socialist AOC helped to raise $5 million for the “lone star state,” as noted here...



...and speaking of people in dire straits from energy failure in bad winter weather, David Doel gives us this story about the Fred Meyer supermarket in Portland, OR, with the food tossed in the dumpster (hey, anybody screaming about “big gumint”...THIS is the sort of task that can be performed by a properly functioning governmental agency, namely, to act as a go-between for a business and those seeking relief, in this case, proper nutrition...this isn’t a comment on any aspect of state and local government in Oregon since I’m not an expert in those areas)...



...and Chris Hayes speaks with Ari Berman about voting in Georgia – I know I had another Berman video recently, but I’m including this because, among the many good points raised (re, how hurting mail-in voting and early voting will likely hurt Republican voters also, even though officials in states trying to pass this garbage are willing to accept “collateral damage,” as Hayes puts it), Berman also tells us that, though Georgia election officials (namely Brad Raffensperger) criticized the Gropenfuhrer for yelling about alleged fraud in “the peach state,” Georgia is basically trying to play voting tricks that validate what Trump was caterwauling about...



...and I have to admit that I really don’t have a “dog” in the whole fight over Biden nominee Neera Tanden to head OMB (I know there is plenty of principled objection here), but Rachel Maddow points out how utterly ridiculous it is for people to oppose Tanden over some tweets that got people upset while also supporting the thoroughly odious Ric Grennell of the regime of Combover Caligula who was guilty of far worse on that score; if I were Biden and Tanden doesn’t get confirmed, just make her a recess appointment since 45 did that stuff all the time and say F.U. to Manchin and the Senate Republicans...



Update 2/24/21: Gee, this explains a lot, doesn it?

...and you probably won’t be able to read the lyrics to this video, but I still thought it was kind of a cool new tune – just something else for a bit of a change of pace, I guess.

Monday Stuff

By the way, in case somebody thinks that all I ever do here is go after Republicans and their acolytes, I want to start with this TYT video of Ana and Cenk telling us about a PA Republican blocking paid sick leave (Seth Grove, who is on paid sick leave from COVID...truly can’t make this stuff up...and oh yeah, Harrisburg is CONSTANTLY trying to pre-empt laws in Philly or Pittsburgh, whether it’s voting, health care, guns – you name it)...yes, Cenk goes after Grove and the Republicans, as he should, but he also goes after Manchin and Sinema for opposing a $15-an-hour federal minimum wage as well as any Dem who is even a little squishy on this issue...shouldn’t be anything to think about as far as I’m concerned...not sure what else we can do except fight the good fight, and it looks like supporting Nina Turner is a good option too...



...and I was a little hasty in saying that we blew off the “half-a-million-COVID-dead” milestone – Biden held a moment of silence (John and Francesca tell us more – and she’s right about a COVID commission also...the Farron Cousins video on Louis DeJoy yesterday was also incorrect - as much as we want to dispose of that cretin, we really can't at the moment and that includes Biden; I've since removed all mention of it...apologies)...



...and Jonathan Capehart, sitting in for Lawrence O’Donnell, talks with Ari Berman about the latest GA Republican vote suppression efforts, along with related garbage across the country...yep, when you can’t win based on your rotten ideas for governance, try to rig the game (more on the John Lewis VRA is here – Lewis would have been 81 yesterday - moved this from yesterday)...



...and what follows is an excerpt from Merrick Garland’s testimony today at his hearing for Attorney General (at about 4:20, he talks about going after those responsible for 1/6...God, how refreshing to actually hear well-qualified adults in federal government speaking out on the issues that matter)...



...and this Now This clip tells us about the deathbed confession from a man named Raymond Wood alleging that the FBI and NYPD conspired to kill Malcolm X (I haven’t really said or done anything for Black History Month because I think that’s a silly concept...everyone’s contributions regardless of their race, ethnicity or whatever should be recognized and celebrated year ‘round...but all the same, maybe you can consider this to be my acknowledgment)...



...and based on this story, why do I have a feeling that Disney Corp. doesn’t give a damn about “negative depiction of cultures” or whatever, but basically doesn’t want to be sued...besides, their founder made his name on being perhaps the worst anti-unionist this country has ever produced, so it’s hard for me to feel sorry for them from a potential litigation point of view, and coming after “Sesame Street” is even more ridiculous, as exemplified by this great tune that NEVER gets old.

Sunday Stuff

Nicolle Wallace talks with journalist Laurie Garrett, who is someone I take seriously on COVID, since she’s basically been right all along in her reporting on this deadly plague, and I think we’re up to about 510K dead by now...and I’m glad that Garrett lays the blame for this at the feet of the Gropenfuhrer - ugh (I listen to Garrett along with Dr. Fauci, Dr. Peter Hotez and a select few others...God, this stuff on the variants is truly scary)...



...and turning to the misery in Texas, Ben Dixon tells us about Jerry Jones raking it in hand over fist while Texans face ridiculously overinflated energy charges (with Cenk and Helen Hong)...



...and sticking with the "lone star state," Brian Tyler Cohen refutes the typical lies from Repug Gov. Greg Abbott about renewables supposedly being the culprit, which is a preposterously untrue statement (and good for Jen Psaki on pushing back)...



...and Thom Hartmann reminds us that the whole “@CancunCruz” stuff is the latest de-evolution of a political party based on lies...and yes, he keeps tracing it all back to Reaganomics, but dammit, he’s right to do that...didn’t know about the Kroger supermarket stuff, which – yeah – is pretty infuriating for the reasons Hartmann notes...



...and this 11th Hour clip tells us about wingnuts media “going to the dogs,” as it were (with FDR defending his canine Fala, kind of like what Biden has to do now...I guess Williams’ criticism at the end is as far as he can go against some of these wingnut media cretins)...



...and Randy California (nee Wolfe) of the group Spirit would have been 70 yesterday; he died young apparently saving his son from drowning - I call that "going out like a boss."

Friday Stuff

David Pakman reminds us that the wingnuts will ALWAYS find a way to blame Dems regardless of the evidence, in this case in the matter of the energy disaster in Texas (if you’re not rich, why in God’s name would you EVER vote for a Republican? And why is it that this doesn't surprise me?)...



...and Kyle Kulinski brings us a Vice News report about people on our southwest border resorting to transporting drugs because of our crashed COVID economy (no, I most certainly DON’T think meth should be legalized – I disagree with Kyle on that – but he’s right in that there is A HELL OF A LOT MORE that we need to do to support the people in this country victimized by all of this...and yeah, at times like this, I think this country looks like a failed state too)...



...and part of the reason, I would argue, why people have to resort to the behavior such as that shown in the prior clip is because the federal minimum wage hasn’t been raised since 2009, and Ana and Nando Vila tells us that Joe Manchin, one of the roadblocks, is getting heat to do the right thing, which is a welcome development (and it looks like Manchin is giving @CancunCruz a run for his proverbial money as the most unpopular U.S. Senator based on this)...



...and the answer is no – I’m NEVER going to stop reminding 43 Republican senators that they utterly caved to Generalissimo Trump in the matter of the second impeachment over the 1/6 insurrection...



...and related to the prior clip, Ari Melber tells us about neo-Nazi infiltration of our police...I know there are people who don’t think much of Nancy Pelosi’s call for a 9/11-style commission to look into what happened on 1/6, but I personally think that’s a great idea, and the stuff Melber talks about is part of what should be investigated...



...and Chris Hayes tells us about the somewhat – how can you put it? – “checkered” history of the L. Brent Bozell clan, with the most recent one of the bunch involved in...yep, you guessed it...the catastrophic events of 1/6 (the sarcasm at the end is completely deserved)...



...and concerning what probably is the biggest story of the week (aside from this, which is truly great), John I. and Jayar give the late but not lamented Flush Limbore the sendoff he deserves...



...and I don’t know how many have noticed, but we’re over half a million COVID casualties...and call me crazy, but I would have thought that that would be trending on Twitter or something – that’s a frightening number, but the lack of a reaction that I can see is pretty damn unsettling too...here’s a tune by a guy who lost his own battle with the disease – words to live by always.

Thursday Stuff

(From @DMNCBIRD via The Rude Pundit on Twitter.)

As somebody might say (not sure who), this might be the most Ted Cruz thing that Ted Cruz has ever done, namely, flying to Cancun while his home state of Texas endures catastrophic conditions due to a massive failure of that state’s energy grid from the recent snow storm (and as noted at the end here, he basically blamed his daughters and spring break for it...and he even requested a police escort for his return as noted here...just nuking any notions of shame here I realize)...



..and boy, this sure didn't take long, did it (heh)...



Update: Yeah, karma sure is a bitch, isn't it (here and here)?

...and remaining in the “land of the yellow rose,” Jeff Waldorf tells us about former Colorado City mayor Tim Boyd, who lost his job because of this whole “rugged individualism” rap of his in response to the dire predicament of the residents he was elected to serve – bit runs a little long, but Waldorf makes a lot of good points...



...and Chris Hayes refutes a lot of the typical wingnut BS over this pretty directly, to his credit (if your means allows you to assist people in the Lone Star State during this time, please click here)...



...though it's not like they weren't warned 10 years ago, as Rachel Maddow reminds us...



...and I guess FL Repug guv Ron DeathSantis was getting jealous with Texas receiving all of the wingnut attention, so he decided to distribute the COVID vaccine to his campaign contributors over everyone else in that state, as Farron Cousins tells us (more here)...



...and keeping with energy matters, John and Jayar tell us about an Indian girl punished for following the example of Greta Thunberg on the issue of climate; I know we don’t pay a lot of attention to that country, but maybe we should, because there’s some pretty damn un-democratic stuff going on under Modi...



...and I guess it’s in keeping with a bit of an international theme to note that today is the 88th birthday of Yoko Ono (I always had a bit of a soft spot for this tune, and it’s actually combined with a regional weather forecast...please be careful out there).

Wednesday Stuff (updates)

Like many of you I’m sure, I was taught not to speak ill of someone who has recently passed from this life, considering that to be part of a typical upbringing in my evolution to become a person of decency, kindness and compassion. And for what it’s worth, I believe I’ve stayed true to that (and I emphasize that I’m not looking for medals, since I don’t think anybody should be rewarded for doing the right thing – you’re just supposed to do it and get on with your life).

But I’m going to make an exception for this occasion. And I’m probably committing a sin, and I apologize in advance.

I wasn’t sure I would know how to react to the news that Rush Limbaugh is finally dead after all of these years. And I’m still not sure that I know how exactly.

Even now, it’s hard to gauge and calculate the utter ruin on our media and political landscape inflicted by this man. Prior to his rise, right-wing media was pretty much the home of kooks and addled academics with a grievance against some kind of slight that can more often than not be traced back to the Democratic Party (or also what used to be called Eisenhower Republicanism, where our 34th president campaigned partly on a platform of making sure everyone eligible for Social Security enrolled as well as encouraging union membership). I’m thinking of William F. Buckley, Clarence Manion, and conservative book publisher Henry Regnery (all of whom are discussed in this great book).

But Rush Limbaugh turned all of it into entertainment. He made it profitable. And he kicked open the door for legions of wannabes to follow him, many of whom still ply their dark art to this day (and who will be noted elsewhere in this post).

There is so much that is utterly vile and despicable about Rush Limbaugh that I’m not sure anybody can properly catalog it in a single post or a series of posts (Media Matters has done a better job of that than I ever could). I just want to communicate one anecdote, if you will.

And that has to do with Sandra Fluke, who (as noted here) was a Georgetown University Law student who gave a speech about nine years ago to House Democrats in support of mandating insurance coverage for contraceptives. And of course, Limbaugh attacked her, labeling her a “slut” and a “prostitute” (noted in the second clip).

Well, later that year, I was phone-banking in the Bristol, PA Democratic Party headquarters, and Fluke stopped by with Cecile Richards, then of Planned Parenthood. And I complimented Fluke on her courage for speaking out on women’s health care. She acted a little embarrassed, though she appreciated the praise. And I was struck by the fact that, physically, she was about 5’ 4” or 5’ 5” with kind of a slight build, though that didn’t reflect her courage in standing up to the pre-eminent media bully of our age (as is often the case, when you see somebody through an electronic viewing screen of some type, they loom larger than they are in real like, with notable exceptions of course).

As I spoke with Fluke, I thought to myself, what kind of a pathetic, hateful alleged “man” would go after someone like this lady, who was only practicing the free speech under the First Amendment to the Constitution that is guaranteed to everyone, including him?

I’m sure there will be people praising Limbaugh in the coming days. He will be remembered as a media giant and influencer who played a big part in the conservative revolution in this country. And that will be true.

However, I will look upon him now and forever as one of the vilest life forms who has ever walked upright on two legs. And as far as I’m concerned, that is all the mention he deserves. Part of the reason is noted in this TYT clip from October 2009, in which Detroit residents gathered for economic assistance in the wake of the recession in the prior year, and Limbaugh used it as an excuse for his typical race-baiting (with the “Democrat” Party reference thrown in at the end for good measure - more here, here and here)...



...and as if we wanted more reasons to utterly detest this character...well, here they are (yep, Limbaugh getting the Presidential Medal of Freedom was truly an obscenity that I probably didn't say much about at the time because of more pressing news affecting our country and the world)...



Update: Yeah, I think this is pretty spot-on also from Will Bunch.

Update 2/18/21: And this is pretty well said from Eric Boehlert.

Update 2/20/21: What a sorry-ass legacy (here)...and Frank Bruni doesn't get any points either; when Bruni apologizes for being George W. Bush's PR flunky in the '00 election (here), then I'll take him seriously.

...and turning to the garbage network that Limbaugh helped spawn with Roger Ailes (and I hope both of them are incinerating in Gehenna at this moment), Ana and Aida Rodriguez tell us more about right-wing media saying the Green New Deal is responsible for the energy misery in Texas (and Rodriguez is dead-on about the coast-to-coast influence of greed on all of this)...



...and Chris Hayes gives us more on this (some of this is a little repetitive, but it’s important)...



...and you can consider this clip to be a reminder that we should NEVER, EVER FORGET the individuals in the U.S. Senate who just voted to acquit the Gropenfuhrer for the 1/6 insurrection against this country...



...and happy belated 70th birthday to Melissa Manchester.